Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-02-17

-lion might change your dress
you thinking Of slanuers dreadful story Of
the grizzly tracks across the fields this morn
ingl I promise you that neither ] nor
mother, nor Minnie, shall stir out of the house
until your return, if You wish it."
Il wasn't thinking of that" said Kate;
though don't believe the beating of gong
and the using OF strong language is the best
way to brighten a grizzly from the house.
Besides, the Chinese are going down the river
to-day to funeral or a wedding, or feast
of stolen chickens-they're all the same-and
won't be here
'Then take Manuel, repeated Mrs Hale.
"We have the Chinese servants and Indian
Molly in the house 10 protect US from Heaven
knows what ] have the greatest confidence
in Chy-Lee as a warrior, and in Chinese war
fare generally. One has only TO hear him
pipe in time of peace to imagine what a terror
he might become in war time. Indeed, any
thing more deadly and soul narrowing than
that love song he sang for us last night cam
not conceive. But really, Kate, l am not
afraid TO stay alone. You know what John
says: we ought to be always prepared for
anything that might happen.
"Niy dear Josie" returned Kate, putting
her arm around her sisters waist, II am per-
fectly convinced that if Three-fingered Jack,
or Two-toed Blu, or even joaquin Murietta
himself should step, red handed, on that ve-
renda YOU would gently invite him to take a
cup OF tea, inquire about the state of the
road, and refrain dclirately from any allu-
sions 20 the sheriff But ! shan't take
Manuel from you. I really cannot under
take TO look after his morals at the station.
and keep him from drinking aguardiente
with suspicious characters at the bar 1t is
true he kisses my hand in his speech, even
when it is thiekcst. and offers his back to me
for horse block, but I think l prefer the
sober ard honest familiarity Of even that
Pike county landlord who is satisfied to say,
Jump, girl, and I'll .ctch yer"
II hope you didn't change your manner to
either Of them for that, said Mrs Hale with
faint sigh colin wants to be good friends
with them, ard they arc behaving quite
decent!y lately, considering that they can't
speak a grammatical sentence nor know the
use of a fork
"And now the man puts on gloves and a
tall hat TO come here on Sundays, and the
woman won't call until you've called first, /"
retorted Kate; perhaps You call that inn
provement. The fact is, Josephine con
tinued the young girl, folding her arms de
murely, 1--WE might as well admit it at once
these people don't like u.s.
@That'1 impossble!n said Mrs. Hale, with
sublime simplicity. "You don't like them,
you mean"
II like them better than you do, Josie, and
that's the reason why feel it and you don't"
She checked herself and after pause re-
sumed in lighter tone: "No; l sha'n't 20 to
the station: I'll commune with nature to-day,
and won't take any humanity in mine, thank
YOU as Bill the driver says Adioa."
81 wish Kate would rot use that dreadful
slang, even in jest said Mrs Scott, in her
rocking chair Of the French window, when
Josephine re-entered the parlor as her sister
walked briskly away II am afraid she is
being infected by the people at the station.
She ought to have a change"
II was just thlnking said Josephine, look
ing abstractedly at her mother, ''thet would
try TO get John to take her to San Francisco
this winter. The Careys are expected, you
know; she might visit them"
I'm afraid if she stays here much longer
she won't care to see them at ALL She seems
to care for nothing now that she ever liked
before, returned the old lady ominously.
Meantime the subject of these criticisms
was carrying away her own reflections tight
ly buttoned up in her short jacket She had
driven back her dog Spot-another one Of her
disillusions, who, giving way TO his lower
nature had once killed sheep-as she did
not wish her Jacques-like contemplation Of
any wounded deer to be inconsistency inter-
rupted by q fresh outrage from her com
PARTON Tho air was really very chilly, ard
for tile first time in her mountain experience
the direct rays of the sun seemed to be shoin
Of their power. This compelled her to walk
more briskly than she was conscious of, for
in less than an hour she came suddenly and
eaihlessly upon the month OF TIE canyon or
natural gateway to Eagles Court
To her always a profound spectacle CT
mountain maGniaeence, il seemed to-day al
most terrible in its cold, strong grandeur.
The narrowing pcss was choked for no
meut between two gigantic buttresses Of
granite, approaching each other so closely ut
their towering SUBMITS that trees growing
in opposite clefts Of the rocks intcrmingled
their branches and pointed the soaring
Gothic arch Of a stupendous gateway. She
raised her eyes with quickly beating heart.
She knew that the interlacing trees above
her were as large as those she had just quit
ted; she knew also that the point where they
met was only half way up the cliff, for she
had once gazed down upon them, dwindled
to shrubs from the airy summit; size knew
that their shaken cones fell thousand feet
perpendicularly, or bounded like shot from
the SCARED walls they bombarded. She re-
membered that one Of these pines, dislodged
from its high foundations, had once dropped
Ike portcullis in the archway, blocking the
pass, and was only carried afterward by as
sault Of steel and fire Bending her head
mechanically, she ran swiftly through the
shadowy passage, and halted only ct the be-
ginning of the ascent on the other side.
It was here that the actual position OF the
plateau, so indefinite of approach, began to
be realized 1t now appeared an independent
elevation, surrounded on three sides by
gorges and water courses, 80 narrow as to be
overlooked from the principal mountain
range, with which it was connected by long
canyon that led to the ridge At the outlet
of this canyon-in hygone ages a mighty
river-it had the appearance of having been
slowly raised by the diluvium Of that river,
and the debris washed down from above-a
suggestion repeated in miniature by the arti-
fetal plateaus of excavated soil raised before
the mouth of mining tunnels in the lower
tanks Of the mountain. 1t was the realiza-
ton of fact--often forgotten by the dwell
ers in Eagles Court-that the valley below
them, which was their connecting link with
the surrounding world, was only reached by
ascending the mountain, and the nearest road
was over the higher mountain ridge Never
before had that impressed itself so strongly
upon the young girl as when she turned that
morning to look upon TIE plateau below her.
1t seemed to illustrate the conviction that
had been slowly shaping itself out of her re-
hections on the conversation of that morning.
It was possible that the perfect understanding
a r.